VANITY FAIR

December 2002

no.508

Features

HALL OF FAME From a year clouded by war and uncertainty, Vanity Fair has chosen the bright spots: the Quecreek miners, life chez Osbourne, the girl with the big fat Greek wedding, the boys with the soccer ball, and more. Portraits by Annie Leibovitz, Herb Ritts, Jonas Karlsson, and others. 299

NICOLE'S NEW LIGHT When her marriage to Tom Cruise ended two years ago, Nicole Kidman felt the chill: would her career nose-dive, too? As she answers with a stunning slate of films, led by this month's The Hours, Kidman talks to Ingrid Sischy about love, crisis, and renewal. Photographs by Mario Testino. 322

LEAPING WIZARDS Annie Leibovitz and Laura Jacobs spotlight American Ballet Theatre's wonderful wild men. 330

CRACKLIN' ROSIE Even during her reign as the Queen of Nice, Rosie O'Donnell had an edge. Now she's furiously battling a publishing titan over the magazine that bore her name. With an earful from both sides, Judith Newman explores O'Donnell's very public metamorphosis. Portrait by Michael O'Neill.332

CALENDAR GIRL Bruce Weber and Michael Hogan unveil the 2003 Pirelli Calendar, which features gorgeous supermodels on the Italian coast.336

RICH, JADED, AND LOST IN L.A. Kelly, Marc, and Matt are good-looking, well-connected college-age kids living the fast life in Beverly Hills. Nancy Jo Sales tags along as they slip through some of the tightest velvet ropes in town, looking for a reality of their own. Photographs by Art Streiber . . 338

THE FACE OF JACK THE RIPPER The identity of the monstrous 19th-century serial murderer is one of history's great unsolved mysteries. In an excerpt from her new book, Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper, Case Closed, best-selling crime writer Patricia Cornwell contends that, with the help of DNA testing, she has finally unmasked him .342

Fanfair

31 DAYS IN THE LIFE OF THE CULTURE Great Dickens!—Leslie Bennetts on Nicholas Nickleby. Hot Reels: Bruce Handy reviews Far from Heaven and About Schmidt; Coming Attractions—Walter Kirn plays Catch Me if You Can. Elissa Schappell's Hot Type. David Kamp uses Pure Imagination; Henry Alford retires with Jane Austen in Boca. A. M. Homes on artist Sigmar Polke; Edward Helmore on photographer Mario Sorrenti. Krista Smith on Baz Luhrmann's La Boheme; Patricia Bosworth previews Imaginary Friends. Kevin Sessums on singer Audra McDonald; Michael Hogan on pianist Martha Argerich. Matt Tyrnauer on Tadao Ando's new museum; Amy Fine Collins drives the Maybach. My Stuff: chef Daniel Boulud opens his cupboards; Hot Looks—the glitter bug. 131

CONTINUED ON PAGE 36

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 28

Columns

THE MAVERICK KINGDOM Unlike neighboring Gulf regimes that bred the terror of 9/11, Qatar has quietly sown the seeds of moderation. And today this tiny desert kingdom is playing a huge role in America's plans for war. Christopher Hitchens hits Qatar's hot spots: the newsroom of A1 Jazeera TV and the U.S.-built Al-Udeid Air Base. 160

DE PALMA AND THE WOMEN Brian De Palma has been snubbed by critics and denounced as anti-female. But, screening De Palma's Femme Fatale, James Wolcott suggests that the director of Scarface and Carrie may be one of America's greatest living filmmakers. Portrait by Francois-Marie Banier. 170

WIDOWS AND WITNESSES Dominick Dunne finds an unexpectedly sympathetic Yoko Ono in a New York courtroom, then watches a taped re-enactment of the night Edmond Safra died. Meanwhile, the private-jet trail leads to Alfred Taubman's Minnesota jail, and Michael Skakel's alleged accomplices should be worried. Portrait by Stephen Danelian .... 180

CINEMA CHICAGO Mark Seliger and Walter Kirn preview the film version of Chicago, starring Richard Gere, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Renee Zellweger.192

TERRORISM'S NEW GEOGRAPHY AstheU.S. tracks al-Qaeda from Yemen to Indonesia, it should be looking south as well. In the "Triple Border" region, where Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina meet, warns Sebastian Junger, bin Laden's followers are joining terrorists of every stripe.194

COFFEE ACHIEVER John Huba and Krista Smith spotlight an up-and-caffeinated Mark RufTalo, one of Gwyneth Paltrow's boyfriends in View from the Top.208

A SPOONFUL OF SEDUCTION Britain's kitchen goddess, Nigella Lawson, has been winning American fans to her mouthwatering cookbooks, newspaper column, and TV show. But in London, Judy Bachrach reports, the buzz concerns Lawson's private conquest: millionaire art collector Charles Saatchi. Portrait by Christopher Simon Sykes. 210

FORT BRAGG'S DEADLY SUMMER Warcame home to the army base in North Carolina this year, with a spate of shocking domestic murders and suicides. Investigating three of the tragedies, Maureen Orth asks what drove experienced soldiers, all of whom served in Afghanistan, over the edge. 222

THE LEGEND OF RUBIROSA Dashing polo-playing diplomat Porfirio Rubirosa wooed his generation's most glamorous women—Barbara Hutton, Eva Peron, and Ava Gardner among them—with masses of charm and one extraordinary physical asset. Gary Cohen recalls the man whose name lives on as a term for outsize pepper mills. 242

VIVA CLEMENTE! Boat on fire? Call the Coast Guard. Jonathan Becker snapped the determined guests at Francesco Clemente's Naples homecoming. 264

CONTINUED ON PAGE 44

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 36

Special Section Archive

POWER & INFLUENCE Celebrating its 20th anniversary, Vanity Fair assembles some of the best portraits from two decades of covering the powerful, in a gallery that spans the intimate embrace of Ronald and Nancy Reagan, a cozy Sun Valley gathering of New Establishment mandarins, and the uncompromising jaw of Rudy Giuliani.266

Vanities

ADAMS FAMILY VALUES Ed Coaster crashes the V.F. Christmas party. George Wayne lightens up with Joan Collins. Adam Leff and Richard Rushfield's Intelligence Report: The Dictators. Season's greetings from Satan. Neal Pollack risks life and limb for his dispatch from Iraq. Out & In: Misty Clymer's out, good news is in short supply, and Jules Asner and Steven Soderbergh are an item .281

Et Cetera

EDITOR'S LETTER...90

CONTRIBUTORS...92

BEHIND THE SCENES...110

LETTERS: Come Fly with Me...112

CREDITS...368

PLANETARIUM: Sneak on, Sadges...370

PROUST QUESTIONNAIRE: Deepak Chopra...372

FOR DETAILS, SEE CREDITS PAGE